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As promised, Microsoft has released newly acquired Visual Studio plugin UnityVS for free to developers using any recent paid edition of Visual Studio. This plugin greatly improves developers working with the Unity game development system.

Visual Studio "14" continues to display new features, with the latest CTP providing a look at productivity enhancements to the editor that benefit all languages as well as providing access to ASP.NET vNext.

As new details on Visual Studio "14" emerge, Microsoft's James McNellis describes how changes are being made to the infamous MSVCR DLL. Additional work being done to implement C99 support will also be changing how the default behavior of familiar functions.

The first preview of the successor to VS2013 has been released, unifying several recent projects into a single package. Nearly all technology platforms are affected, with ASP.NET, C++, and VB/C# developers all receiving large updates.

C++14, the new C++ standard, will bring a host of changes to the language. Although it is planned to be a small extension over its predecessor, featuring mainly bug fixes and small improvements, it is inevitable that a few changes could make a correct C++11 program break under a C++14-compliant compiler. With the new standard approaching a mature status, it is now worth asking where the risk lies.

JetBrains recently open sourced Nitra, a set of tooling for working with programming languages on the CLR. Developers can define grammers using Nemerle, which Nitra then uses to build parsers and generate classes to represent and navigate the AST.

The first CTP for Visual Studio 2013 Update 3 has arrived, continuing Microsoft's rapid release pace for their flagship development tool. As compared to the previous update, this 3rd installment is much more limited in scope.

The official RTM release of Visual Studio 2013 Update 2 has been made, and unlike the first update it brings with it a host of new features that should interest if not outright benefit nearly all users. Improved areas include better Git tooling support, web development, and profiling.

Visual Studio isn't just the web, .NET, and C++. It also provides a full featured editor for Node.js and Python. InfoQ speaks with Microsoft Project Manager Shahrokh Mortazavi to talk about these tools and what they offer developers.

The Beginner's All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Set, first used on 1st May 1964, turned fifty yesterday. More widely known as BASIC, in introduced a generation to programming, kick-starting many who would then go onto a path to technology in the future. InfoQ looks back at the memorable moments as well as looking to the future.

In a recent article, Jeff Handley outlined the roadmap for NuGet 3.x. From its humble beginnings as a way to distribute out-of-band ASP.NET MVC packages, NuGet is now considered to be a vital part of the .NET ecosystem and Visual Studio itself. The four primary areas covered in the roadmap are: Package Discovery, Package Trust/Incompatibility, API, and Package Installation/Build.

Through Visual Studio 2010 Microsoft included a Setup and Deployment project type. With VS2012 this project type was removed and users were told to use InstallShield LE or seek a 3rd party alternative. Due to great user demand, Microsoft has now brought the previous project type back as an extension for VS2013.